musings from a nomadic miner

Family Holiday

I trust that you made the most of your time off in the same manner I did, mainlining wine and eating your body weight in processed carbs – high five to January detoxes, keeping the gym industry afloat!!!

The bearded man and I got the holy grail of annual leave – Christmas week off!! This sought after leave is usually two years in the making, and we managed to get the last available spots on the 25th Dec, 2014. This year was our ‘half way’ of working Christmas Day and now only have another 3 years before we are actually home for one (come on 2019)

After having ‘faux-Christmas’ with the fellas family we jumped on a plane and headed to Sydney to spend the actual day with mine – what’s the saying??

A son is a son till he takes a wife; a daughter’s a daughter the rest of her life

After a disappointingly soggy 3 days in Sydney, we headed north my families ‘happy place’ South West Rocks, a little tourist town on the Central north coast.

Obligatory Tourist Shot

The idea of one beach house, 11 family members for 7nights did fill me with slight trepidation, we are by no means a quiet family – or a small family as (apart from me) most people are 6ft. However it was unnecessary worry, for the most part the trip was pretty harmonious! It always amazes me with family (and good friends) you can be separated for years and by 1000’s of kilometers but as soon as your all back together again its immediately like old times.

We are by no means locals to the area now, however my family has a long history with this place, my great grandparents lived here, my grandparents got married here, my Mum was born here and someone in the fam visits every year. Every trip discussions turn to which house we will buy when one of us inevitably wins lotto – mine was this one.

It’s one of those magical places where days blend into each other and basically involve:

Turkish towel and kindle in hand, I spent 7 glorious days doing…. Well as little as possible.

Apart from the occasional dip in the ocean to cool down and make the most of our $20 bogey board, my week involved burning through 3 books, working on my tan and deciding what I was going to eat next.

Every afternoon, with salty hair and sandy feet we padded across the road to the local pub. The Seabreeze Hotel, home to the BIGGEST seafood platter I had ever seen, where I was introduced to Black Shandys and got very good at waiting over an hour for food (pretty sure most staff working in the town over the holiday had never worked in hospitality)

The only deviation from this schedule was a trip to the Trial Bay Gaol, a heritage listed relic standing on the headland overlooking the bays. Built in the 1800’s it was to house inmates who were getting to the end of their sentences and help build a groin to make South West Rocks a ‘safe harbour’ for trade ships (see educational AND enjoyable) This sadly all fell to shit when the groin continued to get washed away and a few poor fellas were eaten by sharks (welcome to Australia) the gaol was closed.

Whats left now is a photographers dream, all geometric shapes and casting shadows.

The days blissfully blended into one another, my feet got the permanent flip flop tan (the ultimate sign of a beach holiday) the bank account started looking a bit and before we knew it, it was time to head back west. And then before I knew it I was back here at work blaming the clothes dryer for shrinking my pants and digging into my gut.